MUSICAL METHODS 61
atdtude. Rather was it an automatic process, more
perceptible to the listener than to the performer himself.
It was there to open wider the doors of his sensitiveness so
that the composition might flow more freely. The final
product, as heard by the audience, possessed so few traces
of this transfiguration that only the most discerning ear
was able to detect it. This perhaps explains why Paderew-
ski's Beethr,ven was more discussed than his playing of any
other composer was, and why so many critics who accepted
him wholeheartedly, would hesitate when confronted with
his Beethoven. Edward Baughan, a great admirer of
Paderewski, wrote in his little volume on Paderewski :
" His Beethoven is unequal. Sometimes, if in the mood,
he will give you a performance of one of the later sonatas
which cannot be surpassed . . . ; at other times his read-
ings are rather small and not sufficiently architectural."
With Chopin no translation was needed. Liszt was so
congenial to him, that he could play him as though he,
himself, had written the compositions. The harpsichord
composers, even Mozart, had worked largely on the basis
of a purely artistic conception and in a cultural tradition
that was much aln'n to earlier Polish traditions, and it was
not difficult for Paderewski to play them without any inner
process of acclimatization. His self-control and mental
discipline removed the difficulties of Bach. Mason, in
fact, thought that he was one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, Bach exponent of his time : " As Moscheles
played Bach half a century ago and Rubinstein played him
later on, so does Paderewski play him now, . . . with an
added grace and colour which put these great contrapuntal
creations in the most charming frames. It is the great,
deep musical playing combined with the calm, quiet repose
and great breadth of style. Paderewski has an advantage
over Rubinstein, however, in that he is always master of his
resources and possesses power of complete self-control. . . ."
A romantic similarity connected Paderewski with Weber,
Schumann, Mendelssohn and Grieg.